Mosquito
by SassyJarvis
Summary: Whilst creating tablets for an unknown aggressive form of Malaria spreading around New York, Tony is bitten and left severly ill. The Avengers are left temporarily without one of their best assets and are slowly falling apart when they soon find out things are about to get a whole lot worse and nothing is ever as it seems... Domestic Avengers/Stony/Clintasha
1. Chapter 1

Nobody liked the S.H.I.E.L.D meetings. So when Fury announced everyone should meet in the conference room at 11:00am 'prompt' for an 'urgent' meeting, it was no surprise nobody was very eager…

Steve was the first to arrive. Even though he hated these meetings as much as the rest of the team he was far too polite to arrive any later than the designated time. Plus, he really didn't like the idea of getting on the wrong side of Fury. He knocked before entering and slipped into a seat close to the door at 10:57am. Coulson greeted him politely and Steve returned the salutation but he noticed a look of slight distress creeping onto the normally neutral man's face. That was not a good sign.

The next to arrive was Banner. He entered in a similar fashion to the Captain and proceeded to sit across the table from Steve. Fury eyed him sternly and pushed papers in his direction that Steve had previously not noticed; they glanced at each other for a brief second before Bruce levelled out the papers on the desk and began reading.

Clint and Natasha arrived simultaneously, which wasn't a surprise since nobody ever seemed to see them apart. Natasha entered the room first, looking her usual professional self. Clint followed, not looking as much. He had a burrito and was trying, but failing, to bite into it without spraying sauce all over the carpet. Natasha turned to glare at him and without a word, Clint obediently wrapped up his burrito and put it in his pocket.

Next to walk, or more accurately stride, through the door was Thor. His face was beaming like usual and he seemed mightily pleased with himself as always. He greeted the assembly loudly, wishing them all 'pleasant days' and apologizing for his 'regrettable tardiness as he had been unfortunately caught up with a bag of pop tarts and the time had lost its track.' He sat down next to Bruce, satisfied that he had not been ridiculed for his lateness, and crossed his arms, the smile not leaving his face.

Everyone waited in a slightly awkward silence for about ten minutes. Bruce was still engrossed in his notes, his expression slowly getting more and more miserable with every new page. Steve was twiddling his thumbs and glancing at Bruce with concern every 30 seconds, hoping that they could start this meeting already so he could know what was going on and why everyone in-the-know seemed so worried. Thor was now laid back on his chair, his feet stretched under the table and his arms behind his head. He sensed a slight tension but thought nothing of it since most of the meetings started like this, even if it was just that time when Tony hacked into the system and set the company's screensaver as Phil and Steve photoshopped as Romeo and Juliet or that time Tony announced at a press conference that Captain America was actually Canadian.

Clint was still debating whether he would risk nibbling some of his burrito without being either brutally decapitated or skinned by Natasha when Tony sauntered in, 25 minutes late.  
"Only 25 minutes late, I'm impressed," Coulson muttered and he was being genuine. It was normally an hour into the meeting before Tony even considered turning up and it was usually followed by a very long and tiresome video call between Fury and Tony debating the 'pros' and 'cons' of having the meeting and '_was it really important enough for him to go?_' This usually ended with Fury stringing together as many curse words as he could at him before Tony would cut him off mid-sentence, deciding after ten minutes he might as well go just to see how furious Fury would actually be on a scale from 9.99-10.

"Nice of you to join us Mr Stark," Fury added as Tony proceeded to sit a seat down from Steve.  
"Always a pleasure."  
"Now everyone is present, I can tell you all why we're here." Fury began but he paused to look at Bruce, "You got anything from those notes Banner?"  
Bruce looked up from the papers and glanced at Fury like a rabbit caught in headlights; He hadn't heard a word the man had just said.  
"Talk to me Banner."  
"It's … It's not looking good."  
"What's 'not looking good'?" Steve instantly questioned as he leaned forward anxiously, extremely desperate for some information.  
"Yeah what actually _is_ going on?" Tony enquired; for once he wasn't actually up to date.  
Natasha remained silent. Clint stopped daydreaming about his burrito. Thor leaned forward now, more aware of the tension and ready to assist in any way he could.  
"I wish I could answer that but right now, we're not 100% sure." Fury answered.  
"It **could **be Malaria but it's different. I've seen something like it when I was… travelling but it's more aggressive and there seems to be something else to it. Something I've never seen before…" Bruce began mumbling.  
"I don't see the problem. Malaria is practically unheard of in New York, what's the issue?" Tony interrupted.  
"That's precisely the problem Tony, it's not meant to be here, which means something's up."  
"Ok wait, hold up, since when was it Avenger policy to look into the spread of disease?"  
"Since 74 S.H.I.E.L.D agents have been contaminated this last week." Coulson stated matter-of-factly.  
"Still, what can we do? Fair enough Bruce can give you some advice but medicine is not my forte and I seriously doubt Thor or Steve here could help in the slightest when it comes to medical science." This comment received irritated glances from both Steve and Thor who were not particularly fond of constantly being considered stupid by Tony.  
Fury spoke up first, "Whatever your scientific know-how, all of you need to get your ass down to the infirmary next week for some malaria tablets."  
Steve shot a confused glance in the direction of Coulson and Fury, when did he ever need vaccinations or tablets? Nothing worked on his immune system anyway.  
Bruce met his gaze and instantly understood, "This malaria is stronger than any we've ever seen and extremely deadly, even though you're practically immune Captain, there's no harm giving you the tablets, just in case."  
"Wait, wait, a week? If this is as bad an epidemic as you're making out, why are you leaving it so long?" Tony added curiously.  
"Because we don't actually have the tablets yet and if you've been listening at all you would have realised this is a more aggressive form of the illness, meaning we need a more aggressive prevention which Bruce here is working on." Fury glanced at Bruce as if acknowledging him to speak.  
"See, this is the issue. I don't actually have the technology… or the money to complete these tablets. I was thinking a higher funding from S.H.I.E.L.D or failing that…"  
Tony got the hint, "Hey wait, as much as I love being the humanitarian, who dragged me into this?"  
Coulson opened up a file he'd been drumming his fingers on for the past couple of minutes, he'd been expecting Tony to throw the 'who says I should be involved?' card and he was prepared.  
"You did." Coulson began, pausing for a second to read the expression on Tony's face, "When you joined the Avengers and therefore S.H.I.E.L.D you signed a contract which I'm _sure_ you read through thoroughly. Paragraph 3 Section ii under 'Health and Safety' and I quote. '… If said illnesses do spread throughout the S.H.I.E.L.D organisation or any of the Avengers and no other option is valid, I will provide assistance both financially and scientifically towards cures and preventions.'"  
"You guys are officially my favourite people," Clint spoke up from the back, a smirk on his face.  
"You know something, Barton..." Tony began but then he stopped and turned to Coulson, "Ok, as much as I love and believe you, can I see this for myself?"  
Coulson slid the file across the table.  
Tony scanned the text, desperate for an exit clause or a loop hole or _something, somewhere_ but nothing, _damn these sneaky little spies know what they're doing, "_Right, shit, Ok, I guess I'm in. I'll provide the machinery, whatever my dear Brucie here requires, but I'm leaving my involvement at that."  
"That's all I can ask," Coulson replied smugly.

"Right, as for the rest of you, Bruce and Tony will be making the tablets and I want you all down at the infirmary on Monday morning first thing. You will all be given the correct dosages regarding your … sizes and hopefully that should be enough to keep you from sick leave. Any issues after that will be dealt with in our next meeting and you will all receive daily check-ups by Banner to see how you're all getting on."

Natasha and Clint nodded in unison and got up to leave; they had been given their orders and took that as a signal they were no longer required. Steve and Thor were unsure whether or not to follow whilst Tony was already half way to the door. Bruce was still seated, rereading the first page of his notes.  
"Rogers, Thor, you can go, make sure you're present on Monday or I will have both your asses on a platter, understood."  
Neither of them understood the reference at all of course but they nodded and proceeded to leave.

"Stark, get ordering whatever equipment necessary and get it all set up today and then get some sleep, you and Banner start tomorrow morning."  
Tony rolled his eyes but nodded at the three remaining members of the group, he stood by the door for a few more seconds, letting Steve and Thor through and followed them out, letting the door shut behind them.


	2. Chapter 2

**Authors Note: Thank you all for the follows, favourites, reviews etc. They all appreciated immensely. I'd just like to say I'm sorry I don't post as often as others, hopefully I'll be posting more and more frequently now I've got into the story more. I also checked my views and found that the first country where English is not their first language to have the most views on my fan fiction was Sweden. Tack så mycket Sweden and Thank you to all of you :)  
Also, I feel like this chapter may be a little out of character?**

* * *

The next two days were two days of hard work for Tony and Bruce. Well, two days of hard work for Bruce. Tony spent the majority of the first day questioning Bruce about certain aspects of medicine (out of general boredom instead of real interest) and then proceeding to wander around his lab. He'd been ordered to help in any way he could which also meant he had to _"keep his ass quiet"_. Tony spent the majority of the second day doing pretty much exactly the same as the first day. Bruce was so extremely organised it almost sickened Tony but that didn't mean a lot of Bruce's research, samples and experiments didn't take up a big portion of Tony's lab and he was getting bored of not having any space down there to test things out.

"Look, Bruce there's a reason I built Stark Towers with so many rooms. As much as I love you, why exactly does this have to be done in my lab?" Tony repeated for the 7000th time in the past two days.  
"Fury's orders Tony, I'm sorry." Bruce murmured, too enthralled in his work to look up.  
"So you can keep an eye on me, I get it."  
"To keep an eye on the spread of the virus and I'm guessing to keep you from having space to work on the suit until this is sorted."  
"Yeah well, it's shit."  
"If it makes you feel any better, I'm nearly done."  
"Well that's great, keep it going Doc. I'm off upstairs. Ask Jarvis if you want anything."

Tony headed to the kitchen to grab a coffee. He had a coffee machine in the lab but for the first time in his life, he was starting to get sick of the place. It wasn't even his lab anymore. It was like he could see his little inventions, his cars, his tools, his suits but he couldn't work on them and he didn't like it. Everything seemed pushed out of the way to make way for this humanity project. His beloved lab had been overridden with petri dishes and experiments and test tubes and paperwork and worst of all… mosquitoes. 100's of them. Maybe even thousands. A few boxes arrived on the first day for Bruce to work with and more and more had been arriving whenever Bruce needed them. _Horrible fucking things._

He didn't blame Bruce, hell, he admired the guy. His attitude towards work, his _patience_ was simply unparalleled. No, he didn't blame Bruce, he blamed Fury. He blamed Fury and Coulson and S.H.I.E.L.D and especially all them mosquitoes that needed to just get out of his lab and leave him at peace.

"Been kicked out of your lab?" Clint remarked; Tony had his back to him but he could almost hear the smirk in his voice.  
"Get lost Barton."  
"What a pleasant way to greet your fellow teammate."  
"Look-" Tony began, turning to face Clint.

He was cut off by Steve entering the room, catching his gaze and almost turning on his heels and leaving the way he'd just come. Maybe it was his bad mood but Tony really did not like that. Tony and Steve had started to get along after New York, they butted heads a lot less and we're almost, dare they say it, friends. And quite good friend at that. Sometimes though, Steve seemed to meet his gaze and suddenly become uncomfortable. He'd enter a room, see Tony and turn to leave, thinking Tony hadn't seen him. He'd go to ask Tony a question and suddenly stop himself, look down and walk off. They had _finally_ started to get along and suddenly Steve was acting more and more distant.

Tony had ignored it at first, taking it as Steve still adjusting and over thinking everything he did to not appear stupid to the others but something about today or his mood or just the way Steve looked at him 10 seconds ago, hit a nerve with him.

"Rogers," Tony almost barked at him, "have I _done something_?"  
"As much as I love family domestics, I'm going to stay out of this, cya," Clint seemed to say all at once before taking a full carton of milk from the fridge, downing a third of it on the spot and strolling out without another word, taking the carton with him.  
"I don't understand what you mean." Steve almost whispered after a pause, looking confused and slightly taken aback.  
"You know full well what I mean," Tony continued, " You've been acting different with me these past couple of weeks and I don't like it."  
Steve didn't say a word.  
Tony spoke again instead, "So, answer me, have I done something? Because if I have, just tell me."  
Steve hesitated before saying, "You haven't done anything Tony."  
Tony was getting more and more angry, he knew he shouldn't let this all out on Steve but he couldn't stop himself, "Then what is it?" He was almost shouting.  
"Nothing Tony, I promise," Steve lifted his head and looked at the angry man in front of him who was dying for an explanation.  
Steve sighed and looked right into Tony's eyes and began again, "I guess I'm just a bit off my game right now but it's nothing you've done Tony, I promise."  
"Right." Tony said abruptly but he softened his voice and spoke again, "I'm sorry, I'm not in the best of moods either."  
Steve seemed relieved, "It's okay."

Tony turned to get his coffee and began drinking, only to retract his mouth and grimace, _lukewarm coffee, eurgh._ He poured it down the sink and reached into a cupboard and poured himself a whisky, he began to drink again, more satisfied this time and then stopped for a second, deep in thought. After a few minutes of silence, he looked up at Steve, his trademark grin filling his face, "Do you wanna watch a movie or something?  
The surprise was obvious on Steve's face but he smiled and was about to nod happily when he realized, "Wait, shouldn't you be helping Bruce?"  
"Bruce is fine, Cap. He knows what he's doing. Besides, I'm getting sick to death of my lab. I doubt I'll be going back there until this whole thing has blown over."  
Steve nodded then, both to the movie and to Tony's liable enough reasoning and both of them made their way to the rec room near the top of the tower.

"Ok Jarvis, bring up my film archive," Tony muttered, gesturing towards the 50 inch TV mounted onto the wall.  
"You have a film _archive_?" Steve asked in awe.  
"Well, I've got all the TV's hooked up to netflixs and all my favourites and most recently watched films are stored in my personal system and I can go through them all whenever I want but they only work when I voice command them."  
"Oh," Steve didn't know what else to say so he steered the conversation clear of any technical talk, "What are we watching then?"  
"Whatever you want," Tony gestured to the TV and the list of films on display.  
Steve stared at the screen, " I've heard of none of these," he mumbled shamefully.  
Tony laughed to himself and then flicked his hand from left to right, the films on the screen moving according, "Flick through with your hand until you find something."  
Steve spent a good ten minutes reading through the summaries and titles of the films, gasping under his breath at some of the movie covers and descriptions until he finally made his choice. The floor they were on was empty and they sat and watched films for the rest of the day with the surround sound blasting out…

* * *

"What was that?" Steve said, lifting himself up from the sofa.  
Tony was sat next to him, curled into the sofa with a whisky and Steve's sudden jolt caused Tony to spill some all over himself and his leather couch, "_Shit._ You better have a good en-"  
"I heard something."  
"Of course you did, that super hearing of yours is pathetically insane, it was probably a cat meowing on the street 30 stories down.  
"Tony, I'm serious, it was like a crashing. Turn the sound down for a second."

Natasha was suddenly heard through the intercom, "Banner's gone."  
"_What_?" Steve and Tony said in unison.  
"Banner hulked out. The lab is pretty messed up but the mosquitoes are still contained but we think some have escaped. He left through the garage way. We don't know where he's going but we're on the move now, he seems pretty distressed, we think he's been bit."  
Nothing else had to be said. Tony and Steve sprang into action. Tony put on his suit on the walkway on his terrace and flew off into the sky, tracking Bruce's whereabouts through Jarvis and heading east. Steve put on his suit and shield, listening to Tony's sightings through ear piece and making his way towards Bruce.

"Banner!" Thor bellowed, everyone in the team hearing him.  
"Where is he?"  
"I've just lost him myself, where are you Goldilocks?"  
"Thor, talk to us."  
"He is back in the form of human. He does not seem well. _Banner?"  
_"What's happened?"  
"Can you get close, Thor?"  
Tony landed next to Bruce who was curled up with pain on the pavement with just his ripped up trousers to cover him. Most of his half naked body was covered in blistering, pulsating bites, his skin red and irritated. He was sweating but visibly shaking. His head was tucked into his body so nobody could see his face fully but it looked like it was screwed up with intense pain.  
"Jesus," Tony muttered under his breath, "the mosquitoes did _that_?"  
"We need to get him to safety," Thor stated, his eyes fixated on the bites covering Bruce's skin.  
"I just don't understand…" Tony was thinking out loud, _"How the hell…"  
_

By this time a crowd was gathering and within minutes Natasha, Clint and Steve was pushing through them to join Tony and Thor. They were all rendered motionless by the sight before them like Tony and Thor minutes before. Then everyone sprang into action. Clint and Natasha began ushering away the crowds for an ambulance to make its way through. Tony was busy talking to the ambulance response team through his suit, explaining the best he could what he saw before him. Steve and Thor both went to pick the distressed and bitten Bruce up cautiously, uncertain if his shaking was an indication of another Hulk episode. By this time, the ambulance had arrived.

Carefully, as to not harm his inflamed skin anymore or, worse still, make him angry in any way, Thor and Steve helped the ambulance crew load Bruce onto the ambulance. Not all of them could travel with him and Thor agreed to go since he was already half way into the vehicle. The others retreated into a tight semi-circle, staring with utter panic and terror as the ambulance drove round corners and out of sight at top speed with their teammate inside. None of them spoke, none of them moved. They stared hopelessly into nothingness as a familiar sickening pit formed in the pit of their stomach, that same familiar sickening feeling they always got when one of their teammates, one of their _friends_, was in severe danger.


	3. Chapter 3

**Authors Note: Just a quick note to say, there might be some slight inaccuracies with the medical aspects, some of it is altered so it fits more with the plot line etc, plus it's easier to simplify certain things to keep the story following. Most visitors from a country with English as their second language is Germany so Danke schön Germany and thanks everyone and stuff. **

* * *

With a reluctance he hid with humour to the others, Tony took over the 'mosquito project.' It's not like the man didn't like a challenge and it wasn't that fear was ever considered when it came to anything Tony did, that was something he'd learnt to supress a long time ago, but he was completely and utterly _freaked out._ In all honesty, he didn't know what it was exactly that was causing it. Maybe it was that he didn't like the idea that Bruce, the steady handed, organised perfectionist and utter genius in the medical field had been left so helpless and vulnerable by those disease carrying murderers.

Tony didn't bother arguing back when he was appointed; he just tried to make some form of joke about the situation- anything to lighten the mood. The second the Avengers had gathered some form of sense and made their way back to Stark Towers, Tony was put in charge and told to finish the project… and fast. The others had left urgently for the hospital, apart from Steve, who had held back to look Tony in the eye and ask if he wanted to go. Tony had shaken his head, forced a grin upon his face, made some sarcastic comment about hospitals and turned on his heel to the workshop without a glance backwards.

It had partly been true, for Tony did hate hospitals and this was something he made no secret of, but it was also because the last person he wanted to see right now was Bruce. Well not Bruce himself, but the marks on his skin, the injury, the pain, the suffering. He didn't like the idea of seeing that, driving back home and waltzing into the lab to face the very thing that had caused it like nothing was wrong.

"Jarvis, I'm not in the reading mood and I don't have the time, so sum up Bruce's notes and progress for me whilst I set some of this up. Dummy, see those boxes, move them away from that rubble from that wall, put them here, no, ok you're not-ok. I swear to- yeah that'll do."

Tony's workshop was nearly completely destroyed; that was nothing new. Countless experiments had left him with demolished walls, smashed windows, broken cars… but the Hulk had done his damage. Luckily, the mosquitoes that had escaped from one of the many specialised containers had left _with_ Bruce, following him like a pack of wolves about to attack and there was no trace of any roaming mosquitoes in the lab, Tony had had Jarvis scope the place before he'd even set foot in there.

Nonetheless, the lab had been hit pretty hard. Computers were smashed and the ground even caved in at one point and a colossal part of one of the back walls sported a hulk-shaped crater that he must have fallen into to squat off the attack. Natasha had said the Hulk had looked more distressed than usual, if that was possible, so it was probable the bites had taken its toll on the Hulk for a few moments and left him disorientated.

"It seems, Sir, that Dr Banner was making considerable progress with the project before the incident. I have research records of a Plasmodium falciparum parasite and it seems he was not only looking into tablet prevention but he was in the progress of completing an antidote substance."  
"Antidote? As in a medicine kit on steroids?"  
"Dr Banner was creating an injection."  
"Check your records again Jarvis, you can't get a malaria _injection._"  
"I am sure you are aware sir that my records are always accurate."

Jarvis brought up holographic diagrams of Banner's medical research and if Jarvis was a real person he would be grinning at Tony like Clint right about now- _told you motherfucker._ There were pages of almost illegible scribbled notes he must have scanned into the system after Tony had protested about his paperwork. Tony scanned the text for some understanding, an explanation, a- _loop hole. Perfect! Dr. Bruce Banner you genius you, I swear to god…_

According to Bruce's research, not only was the malaria a Plasmodium falciparum parasite, a.k.a in 'Rogers speak' a more dangerous and deadlier form of the disease, it was also a genetically modified version. This made a hell of lot more sense. Bruce had said at the meeting something was not quite right, that there was something he just couldn't quite put his finger on…

_Great, prevention, antidote, injection,modification-_ Tony's mind raced in circles, waves metaphorically connecting through pathways, digging into the deepest parts of brain, searching for answers, _Modificat- that leaves one more question. _  
_  
Who the fuck has been messing with these mosquitoes?_

_It had been intentional then, S.H.I.E.L.D and it's no shortage of enemies had caused some biological ass wipe to fuck around with insects and The Avengers had been caught up in the backlash of it all. Damn it, I will say it now and I will say it a thousand more times, I am sick of S.H.I.E.L.D and their bullshit.  
Ok, but what these assholes didn't realise is that Bruce, our knight in emerald armour, has used their little 'modification' to break through the artificial viruses and use it as a membrane, therefore making a workable antidote and Banner I swear to god you're giving me the biggest science boner right now._

"Did Bruce find out what this modification even did?"  
"He muttered about 'speeding up the malaria symptoms' and 'increasing the intelligence of the mosquitoes' a few times, Sir."  
"Did he say anything else?"  
"Nothing, sir."  
"And how far did he get with all of this?"  
"He managed to complete the tablets which are stored away in the box behind you. You'll find he labelled them accordingly and placed them all in separate containers."

_His organisation is sickening. _

"And this miraculous antidote…?"_  
_"Almost completed Sir, I could bring up his experimental notes to assist you in your completion?"  
"Yeah."

* * *

Apparently, even if you are the Avengers, it's still a battle and a half to visit someone in a hospital.

"Remind me again why we didn't send Bruce to the S.H.I.E.L.D hospitals, they may be assholes there too but at least the nurses are hotter-"  
Natasha shot Clint such a glare that if looks could kill…  
He shut up then but she answered him anyway, "Because this is the only hospital in all of New York that treats Malaria and S.H.I.E.L.D are completely overrun."

Steve was staying silent, he'd stayed silent the entire journey, and when they had arrived, and when Clint had been 'personally offended' by the Hospital car parking toll, which had resulted in a 10 minute argument, which Natasha had ended abruptly. He'd greeted Thor, who had been sent to a waiting room when Bruce had been taken away and had spent the past 5 minutes trying to get a Mars Bar from one of the vending machines, but then he returned to his overwhelming silence.

"You okay Rogers?" Natasha asked, her voice remained neutral but when she stopped to look at him, her face softened.  
"I have to agree with Stark when it comes to hospitals, I'm not a fan," he admitted honestly.  
"Can't say I disagree," she smiled at him reassuringly.  
"Excuse me, may I enquire where Mr Banner is allocated," Thor questioned a nurse, he smiled at her but his voice was slightly shaky, he hadn't exactly had positive experiences at hospitals either.  
The nurse was visually overwhelmed with the 4 international _superheroes _stood in front of her, they were, of course, still in their 'battle suits' and Thor was still carrying Mjolnir, but she looked down at her clipboard and as professionally as she could manage, she led them to the correct room.

* * *

"So, Jarvis, I'm curious. What happened with Bruce and these mosquitoes?"

"Mr Banner was dissecting a mosquito when some seemed to escape from their container. Mr Banner was stung several times and he began to transform, smashing the container where the rest of those particular mosquitoes had been held. They attacked him and that's when he left sir."

_Those containers were secure, _hell _I ordered them. Bruce would never leave them slightly open so they could escape. He's a lot more careful than that.  
_"Show me the footage."

Tony watched in silence at the holographic screen, the scene unfolding before him was exactly how Jarvis had described, _several mosquitoes escape, Bruce gets bit, starts to hulk, smashes container, the rest from the container escape and attack.. _

_Wait._

"Jarvis, rewind to when the first mosquitoes escape, slow it down to 10 frames." _  
_Tony watched intently and the slowed down footage confirmed his theory. Bruce hadn't left the container open, someone had opened it. It was almost unnoticeable to the human eye but clear as day when watched frame by frame, the container lid slides slightly back and opens, as if someone-

_Loki._

* * *

Bruce's bites were not looking any better, granted it had been about an hour and a half but they can all hope, but at least he was awake. Not fully alert, but awake. Awake enough for the others to see the panic and pain plastered across his face.

"_Please _tell the nurses I _need _to go," he muttered from the bed the second Natasha, Clint, Thor and Steve walked through the door.  
"I've told you, Mr Banner, you are no way fit to the leave in this condition," the nurse, who was beside him messing with machinery and writing things down on a clipboard, mumbled without turning around.  
"My _condition_ and the condition of this hospital is about to get a whole lot worse."  
"Breathe, Bruce, you can fight this," Natasha uttered, no louder than a whisper.  
"It's not like I have a choice Natasha. This, whatever this is exactly, is going to escalate a lot quicker than any regular malaria. Right now they're just bites but we're looking at symptoms occurring after a matter of hours instead of days. The other guy doesn't like illness, trust me, and I won't be able to control it when it strikes."

"Ok, right, no disrespect mam but Mr Banner really does need to leave," Steve spoke up politely.  
"I'm afraid his release is unauthorised."  
"Look, do you know who he is? Your hospital will be destroyed. No offence Bruce," Clint stated.  
"None taken, I've been saying it myself," Bruce looked at the adamant nurse, "_Please_ let me leave. I can assure you it will cure itself but I need to go."  
"You are not in a fit enough condition," the nurse repeated but she glanced nervously at the man on the bed who she was sure was turning the slightest shade of green and headed for the door, "I'll be right back."

Bruce watched the woman leave and then looked at the full length window to the left of him and his view of New York, he could easily smash through it and escape as the other guy but he wanted to get out of the city before changing.  
And then he had an idea. A stupid idea. A stupid idea that could probably work.  
"Thor, I can't believe I'm asking this but how strong are you?  
"I don't understand Banner?"  
"How strong, would you be able to," he paused for a second awkwardly, "lift me?"  
"Most likely?"  
Natasha caught on straight away, "You'll have to be quick."  
Then Steve, "Thor, light the skies up."  
Then Clint, "Ok this is going to be the coolest thing I have seen all week."

* * *

"Tony?"

Steve's voiced echoed, he couldn't see Tony through the glass doors into the workshop but he entered the code and walked in. He just assumed he was round a corner, trying to find something, and didn't expect an answer.  
Steve took a step towards the main workstation in the centre of the room, scanning the destroyed room intently when he noticed something on the floor behind Tony's desk chair.

_Tony._

He was by his side in seconds, checking his pulse and with his hand on his face, turning Tony's head to see his face. He was breathing but barely seemed conscious.

"Tony, talk to me, Tony please," Steve's voice was breaking up.  
Then he saw them, one of his shirt sleeves was rolled up and bites were etched across his olive skin.  
"No, no, Tony talk to me," Steve screamed in his face whilst fumbling his hands under Tony's shaking body and lifting him into his arms in one swift motion.

Tony mumbled something that sounded like _Cap _and his eyes twitched.

"I'm here, I'm here, I'm taking you to the hospital."  
_aatee hosspitul  
_"You're not the only one. Keep talking to me, come on."  
_hosspitul- no- anturddoh  
_"I don't understand."  
_an-tteee-dooht  
"An-ti-dote? Antidote! Where is it?"  
_Steve stopped dead at the door of the workshop. Tony flopped one arm over Steve's shoulder.  
_ovrr der  
_Steve span around and his eyes darted to every piece of equipment on the worktop until he saw the needles. Without hesitation, he scooped them all up, put them in a plastic bag and turned back towards the door.  
_No- car.  
_Steve had never driven one of Starks cars in his life but this really wasn't a time to be indecisive.

The hospital staff were certainly not prepared for a super human man dressed in patriotic colours carrying a visually ill, shaking and oily messy bundle of a man in his arms, to burst through the door. So they could have been forgiven to stop dead in their tracks for a good few seconds, before Steve, who had lost all sense of his usually so polite manner, was speaking a lot louder than normal.

"He's been bit pretty badly. He needs medical attention."  
The urgency in his voice snapped the nurses out of their shock and everything sprang into action and within 10 minutes Tony was in a hospital bed surrounded by organised medical chaos. And all Steve could do was pace outside the room impatiently until someone told him he could see him.  
_I am losing another best friend. Not again. Not like this. This isn't happening again. Please.  
Please._

Images of snow flashed, a slippery grasp, and falling, so quickly, reaching out, Bucky gone.  
_Reaching out to Tony, grasping onto his body, frantically checking his unnervingly slowed pulse, his shaking body…_

"Steve," the voice snapped him out of his head and his blurred vision focused on a flash of auburn. _Natasha.  
_"How's he holding up?" Steve turned towards the noise and shook his head to focus properly on a man shorter than himself with his arrows still fixed on his back.  
There was a moment of thick silence because Steve mumbled, "They haven't told me anything yet." There was another pause, "Where's Bruce and Thor?"  
"We'll tell you later."

"You can go in."  
Steve nearly ran to the door and Natasha and Clint followed almost as quickly.

It's impossible not to see; Tony looks awful. Worse than Bruce did, worse than anything any of them have ever seen. Only his face is showing but they could only imagine the state of his skin under the covers. He's pale yet flustered, his eyes are black, his hair is even more tousled than usual, beads of sweat are clogging all over his face, he's shaking violently and most obviously, he has an oxygen mask across his nose and mouth.

Even though he's a complete mess, something flickers deep in his eyes as he sees his teammates and Steve has to smile because Tony is fighting this like the stubborn little asshole that he is.

Through ragged breaths Tony says something under the oxygen mask and his mouth twitches into a smile.

"Didn't quite catch that," Steve focuses directly on that smile, nothing else.

Tony grabs the mask with a shaky hand and pulls it off slightly and Steve just about hears him gasp, "I'm lying here _dying_ and you're stood there laughing, some patron saint of America you are."

And Steve should be telling him off for taking off his mask but he looks at his best friend, laying there in front of him, and he can't help but smile because Tony Stark is the most patronising, sarcastic little son of a bitch he has _ever_ met.


End file.
